Josie and the Pussycats (comics) Josie When did Josie come out? 1963 Had she been featured in Archie comics before? I don't know. Did Josie tell about the formation of the Pussycats? I don't know.
What is the story of Josie?
What is the story of Josie and the Pussycats?
A short-haired redhead, Josie is the leader and co-founder of the Pussycats. She is the lead vocalist and plays guitar. Portrayed as a sweet, attractive, and level-headed teenage girl, Josie is usually the stable center in the middle of the chaos surrounding her band and her friends.  Josie's surname has been inconsistent. It was alternately "Jones" or "James" for much of the comic's run. McCoy was her surname for the 2001 movie. Archie Comics later sometimes acknowledged the surnames from the movie as canonical, though not consistently. In a few stories reprinted in the 2000s decade, Archie Comics changed her surname to McCoy. However, the manga version used "Jones", which was her first surname to actually appear in the comics.  During the early years of her comic (1963-1969), Josie dated a guitarist named Albert. During and after the Josie and the Pussycats revamp, she dated Alan M. Mayberry. Alexander Cabot is regularly attracted to her in the comics. Though she is known to date him, she really loves Alan M.  In the cartoon series, Josie's speaking voice was performed by Janet Waldo (the voice of Judy Jetson and Penelope Pitstop) and her singing voice was performed by Cathy Dougher. She was played by Rachael Leigh Cook in the 2001 live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie (singing voice performed by Kay Hanley). She appears in The CW series Riverdale with Ashleigh Murray portraying her as an African American and lead singer of the band.  Josie was ranked 77th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. CANNOTANSWER
A short-haired redhead, Josie is the leader and co-founder of the Pussycats.
Josie and the Pussycats (initially published as She's Josie and Josie) is a teen-humor comic book about a fictional rock band, created by Dan DeCarlo and published by Archie Comics. It was published from 1963 until 1982; since then, one-shot issues have appeared on an irregular basis. A second series, set in the New Riverdale universe, launched in September 2016.

The series was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna–Barbera in 1970 and a live-action motion picture by Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2001; each of these productions was accompanied by a Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack album. A completely African-American version of the band also appeared in the drama series Riverdale on The CW, after which the character Josie joined Katy Keene.

Publication history
Cartoonist Dan DeCarlo, who had spent most of the 1950s drawing teen and career-girl humor comics such as Millie the Model for Atlas Comics, that decade's forerunner of Marvel Comics, began freelancing for Archie Comics. In 1960, he and Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee co-created the short-lived syndicated comic strip Willie Lumpkin, about a suburban mail carrier, for the Chicago, Illinois-based Publishers Syndicate. Casting about for more comic-strip work, DeCarlo created the characters of Josie and her friends. Josie DeCarlo, the artist's wife and Josie's namesake, explained that "We went on a Caribbean cruise, and I had a [cat] costume for the cruise, and that's the way it started."

DeCarlo first tried to sell the character as a syndicated comic strip called Here's Josie, recalling in 2001:

Josie was introduced in December 1962, when her appearances in Archie's Pals 'n' Gals #23 (Winter 1962-1963) hit the stands. A new solo series, She's Josie, debuted in February 1963. The series featured levelheaded, sweet-natured redhead Josie, her ditzy blonde bombshell friend Melody, and the brainy, cynical, bespectacled brunette Pepper. These early years also featured the characters of Josie's beatnik boyfriend Albert; Pepper's strong but not-too-bright boyfriend Socrates ("Sock" for short); Albert's rival Alexander Cabot III, who chased after both Josie and Melody; and Alex's obnoxious twin sister Alexandra Cabot. None of the mainstream Archie characters appeared with Josie until the ninth issue of her own title. Josie and her friends occasionally appeared in "crossover" issues with the main Archie characters. She's Josie displayed a new Josie-only logo beginning with issue #14 (August, 1965), was officially renamed Josie with issue #17 (December, 1965), and again renamed, to Josie and the Pussycats, with issue #45 (December, 1969). The series finished its run under this title with issue #106 (October, 1982). Josie and her gang also made irregular appearances in Pep Comics and Laugh Comics during the 1960s.

In 1969, Archie Comics made several changes to the Josie comic:
 In Josie #42 (August  1969), Josie met a heavily built blond folk singer named Alan M. who, over time, became Josie's on-again, off-again boyfriend (much to the chagrin of Alexandra, who was also immediately smitten with Alan M. and never missed an opportunity to try and steal him away).
 In Josie #43 (September  1969), Alexandra discovered that her cat Sebastian was actually a reincarnation of an ancestor of the Cabot family, who was executed for consorting with witches. Whenever Alexandra held Sebastian in her arms, she could cast magic spells. Alexandra generally used her powers to compete with Josie for Alan M., but the spells she cast usually backfired in some way. Moreover, her spells ended whenever someone nearby snapped their fingers (which happened often). Alexandra and Sebastian's witchy powers were not used in Hanna-Barbera's TV show, and they were soon discontinued in the comic as well.
 In Josie and the Pussycats #45 (December 1969), the first issue to bear that new title, Josie and Melody decided to start a band called the Pussycats.  Alexandra was asked to be their bassist, but she insisted that the group's name be to "Alexandra's Cool Time Cats"; so, instead, Valerie Smith, a new girl in school, was recruited to play bass. The Pussycats made their leopard print band uniforms (complete with cat-ear headbands and long tails) and performed at their first gig, a school dance, as a seething Alexandra tried unsuccessfully to use her witchcraft for revenge.

The reimagining of the comic resulted in three casualties: Albert, Sock, and Pepper, who were phased out altogether. From 1970 on, most of the stories in the comic book revolved around the Pussycats traveling around the country and the world to perform gigs, with Alan M., Alex, and Alexandra (and sometimes Sebastian) in tow. When the girls were not performing, they dealt with the various trials and tribulations of teenage life, often including Alex's jealousy of Alan M. and Alexandra's jealousy of Josie. The Josie and the Pussycats comic ran until 1982, after which the girls were featured in various Archie Giant Series issues and miniseries and one-shot comics of their own. Reprinted Josie stories (including the occasional pre-Pussycats stories) appear frequently in the various Archie Library digests. Archie & Friends #47-95 (June 2001-November  2005) featured new Josie and the Pussycats stories in the regular house style after the 2001 film renewed interest in the series. They later appeared in a new two-part story, "Battle of the Bands", in Archie & Friends #130-131 (June–July 2009).

Manga makeover
In March 2005, Archie Comics announced that a manga version of the title would be published, with art by Tania del Rio, who was also responsible for the manga makeover of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. The first such "Josie and the Pussycasts" story, "Opening Act" ran in Tales from Riverdale Digest #3 (August  2005) The band had previously appeared in manga form in issue Sabrina, The Teenage Witch #67 (August  2005).

In Archie & Friends #96 (January  2006) the origin of the Pussycats was retconned. The manga version implies that none of the characters previously knew each other. Josie Jones was cut from the school choir, but met Valerie Smith and the two founded the band. They recruited Melody, whose idea it was to wear cat outfits. The band was not doing well at first, but Alex liked the group, though Alexandra could tell he was more interested in Josie. Alex's father let him be the manager as long as he did not use his wealth to help make them stars. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch #72 (February  2006), a stranger named Alan helped carry their equipment. Josie, already attracted to Alan, jealously thought there was an attraction between Alan and Melody. Alex hired him as their stagehand.

The manga focused on the group's attempt to reach fame rather than on their career after they have already achieved it. It featured characters not seen in other comics, including Alan's younger sister Alison and the rival group the Vixens. The manga version was not popular among readers, who preferred the traditional style. Its final appearance was in Archie & Friends #104 (December 2006). A Katy Keene revival replaced it (both featured alongside each other in the latter part of the manga's run), though it, too, did not last.

Afterlife with Archie
In the world of Afterlife with Archie, Josie and the Pussycats are revealed to be vampires. Josephine McCoy is orphaned shortly after her birth in 1906 and winds up in an orphanage run by Alexandra Cabot, who has three other children: Melody, Valerie, and Pepper. Due to their singing talent, "Uncle Buddy" (one of Alexandra's friends) takes the trio on tour, eventually forcing Pepper to marry him. Shortly after this, Josie, Melody and Valerie are turned into vampires. The three then go on to become several short lived groups, with "Josie and the Pussycats" being the latest incarnation. In the 1980s, Pepper finds Josie and tries to blackmail Josie into turning her into a vampire. Josie tries to explain that becoming a vampire locks you into the state you were in when you were turned. Pepper won't listen and Josie is forced to kill her childhood friend. Josie them mesmerizes the interviewer she has been telling this to so the three of them can feed. Later on, on their jet, they detect irregularities at their destination of Riverdale, deciding to land there anyway rather than detour.

Reboot
On June 8, 2016 a reboot of the series was announced in the same style of the Archie, Jughead, and Betty & Veronica reboots as part of the New Riverdale imprint. The series is co-written by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio with the art by Audrey Mok. The reboot features Josie uniting the band to take their big shot at musical stardom, only to contend with the machinations of Alexandra Cabot, the ever-Machiavellian daughter of the Pussycats’ manager. The first issue was released on September 28, 2016.

Characters

Josie McCoy
A short-haired redhead, Josie is the leader and co-founder of the Pussycats. She is the lead vocalist and songwriter and plays guitar. Portrayed as a sweet, attractive, and level-headed teenage girl, Josie is usually the stable center in the middle of the chaos surrounding her band and her friends.

Josie's surname has been inconsistent. It was alternately "Jones" or "James" for much of the comic's run. McCoy was her surname for the 2001 movie. Archie Comics later sometimes acknowledged the surnames from the movie as canonical, though not consistently. In a few stories reprinted in the 2000s decade, Archie Comics changed her surname to McCoy. However, the manga version used "Jones", which was her first surname to actually appear in the comics.

During the early years of her comic (1963–1969), Josie dated a guitarist named Albert. During and after the Josie and the Pussycats revamp, she dated Alan M. Mayberry. Alexander Cabot is regularly attracted to her in the comics. Though she is known to date him, she really loves Alan M.

In the cartoon series, Josie's speaking voice was performed by Janet Waldo (the voice of Judy Jetson and Penelope Pitstop) and her singing voice was performed by Cathy Dougher. She was played by Rachael Leigh Cook in the 2001 live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie (singing voice performed by Kay Hanley). She appeared in The CW series Riverdale with Ashleigh Murray portraying her as an African American and lead singer of the band. Murray eventually left the show and joined the spinoff Katy Keene. She returns as a special guest star in the musical episode "Chapter Ninety-One: The Return of the Pussycats", which is centered on her and the group.

Josie was ranked 77th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

Melody Valentine
The co-founder and drummer for the Pussycats (she also sang occasional lead vocals for the TV series), Melody is a cute blonde and usually speaks in a sing-song voice, denoted by the musical notes in her cartoon word balloons. She is an absent-minded, bubbly sort of character often taken to using silly, nonsense language, and provides much of the comic relief of the series.

Melody is almost never given a surname in a comic story. Occasionally, she is called "Melody Jones". At these times, the name "James" is used for Josie to avoid confusion. However, the manga, having settled on the name "Josie Jones", essentially nullifies this. The 2001 movie establishes her surname as Valentine, a name that Archie Comics has accepted.

Many comic stories use Melody's beauty as a plot device. When male characters see her, they uncontrollably fall for her and lose all sense of anything else, frequently leading to chaos; although, she is usually oblivious to this. Despite any trouble that occurs for her or her friends, Melody maintains a cheerful, optimistic attitude.

In the cartoon series, whenever the group is in a dangerous or potentially dangerous situation, Melody's ears would wiggle. In the cartoon, she frequently gets brainwashed, but is already very dim-witted. Later, in the Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space series, she adopts a cute little alien named Bleep.

Melody's speaking voice is performed by Jackie Joseph, and her singing voice is performed by Cheryl Ladd (credited as Cherie Moor). She was played by Tara Reid in the live-action film. Bleep's voice was done by Don Messick (also the voice of Scooby-Doo, Astro, Dr. Benton Quest, Boo Boo, and more). Ashanti Bromfield portrayed her in the CW series Riverdale.

Valerie Brown
In addition to being the group's main songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, dark-haired Valerie also performs back-up vocals (in the comics, cartoons, and the movie) and occasionally sings lead (nearly always in the TV series) for the Pussycats. In the comics and the movie, she is the group's dedicated bassist; in the cartoons, she plays tambourine. In the comic book, she replaced Pepper, a sharp-minded spectacled brunette.

Valerie's surname may be the most definite of the three. Archie Comics have occasionally used the name "Brown" from the movie on their website and in promotional material, but in the comics, she is always called Valerie Smith. But recently, the "Brown" surname has been used again in comics and the Riverdale TV series. The return of the Brown surname happens due to the return of the Pepper Smith character in the New Riverdale and Archie Horror universe.

In the comics, Valerie is more tomboyish than her two bandmates. Besides being good at science and a skilled auto mechanic, she occasionally shows a quick temper as well as being physically stronger than she might appear. She is also less concerned about her appearance or her love life than Josie, Melody or Alexandra, and had rarely been seen in a romantic relationship, though in the cartoons she seems attracted to Alexander.  In 2010, she began an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Archie Andrews, although her band's touring schedule often keeps her out of Riverdale and away from Archie (much to the relief of Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper, Archie's other girlfriends).

In the animated series, she is somewhat similar to Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo and they met in a 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat". She is the character who saves the day the most often, thanks to her street smarts and her mechanical and scientific genius. In the comics, this is downplayed, although she is still the most intelligent of the group. Valerie is the first African-American female cartoon character on a regular animated television series.

Valerie's speaking voice is performed by Barbara Pariot, and her singing voice is performed by Patrice Holloway, sister of Motown recording artist Brenda Holloway. She was played by Rosario Dawson in the live-action film. Hayley Law portrayed her in the CW series Riverdale.

Alexander Cabot III
Rich, temperamental, and cowardly, Alexander is the Pussycats' shifty and not-too-dependable manager. He often gets the group in hot water because of his crazy promotional schemes.  Alexander wears sunglasses often and likes to flaunt his wealth, typically dressing in flamboyant and expensive clothing.

In the comics, Alexander is reminiscent of Reggie Mantle. He has a crush on Josie and often tries to divert her attention from her boyfriend, Alan M. He is blunt and critical towards Alan M., regarding him as all brawn and no brains. Occasionally, Alexander will take an interest in Melody, particularly when Josie is unavailable.  The interest seems genuine, since, unlike other boys, who fall helplessly in love with Melody at first sight, Alexander tends to remain composed around her.

Alexander's personality is markedly different in the animated series; he is much friendlier, though no more dependable and far more cowardly than his comic strip alter ego.  In this context, he most often serves as a comedic foil for Alexandra's constant scheming.  The animated version of Alexander also exhibits no romantic feelings towards Josie, tends to gravitate towards Melody or Valerie, depending on interpretation, and is very similar to Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo.

The animated depiction of Alexander was voiced by Casey Kasem, who also voiced Shaggy. In a 1973 Josie-guested episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Alexander and Shaggy both appear on-screen together for quite some time.  Alexander was played by Paulo Costanzo in the 2001 live-action motion picture. He appears 
as a supporting regular character on The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Lucien Laviscount.

Alexandra Cabot and Sebastian
Alexandra is technically a supporting character, but often overshadows the rest of the cast in both the comics and the cartoons. She is Alexander's fraternal twin sister in the comics; the 1970 cartoon series does not establish the siblings as twins, nor which sibling is older.

Alexandra has black hair with a white lightning-bolt shaped stripe running through the middle of it, giving her ponytail a slight impression of a skunk's tail. In contrast to the good-natured girls in the Pussycats, Alexandra is cynical, hateful, cantankerous, mean, offensive, rude, envious, scheming and self-centered. She is insanely jealous of the Pussycats, especially Josie, about whom she never has a kind word. Despite having no vocal or musical talent at all, Alexandra desperately wants to be a star; her conditions for joining the Pussycats were that she be made the lead and that the band be renamed Alexandra's Cool Time Cats.

Alexandra has an enormous crush on Alan M., and often tries to steal him away from Josie.  In the comics, although she is not particularly fond of her brother, Alexandra often joins forces with him to separate Alan M. and Josie, which would benefit both siblings, since Alexander is interested in Josie. Alexandra's personality in the cartoon is largely unchanged.

Sebastian is a tuxedo cat, and Alexandra's sidekick. In the comics, Sebastian is the reincarnation of Sebastian Cabot, a witchcraft-practicing ancestor of the Cabot family. Alexandra finds that, by holding Sebastian in her arms, she can cast powerful magic spells (Alexandra and Sebastian's bond is represented in that they both have a matching white stripe in the middle of their hair/fur). This plot device was sporadically employed by various writers at Archie over the years; Alexandra was later shown to be able to cast spells on her own.  In the cartoon, Alexandra and Sebastian do not have magic powers but they still have their white stripes. Sebastian usually follows Alexandra's schemes when it comes to getting in between Josie and Alan, but unlike Alexandra, he has no real grudge or dislike towards Josie and is usually shown to be friendly to her. 

Alexandra's voice in the cartoons is provided by former Mouseketeer Sherry Alberoni, while Don Messick supplies the meows, screams, and Muttley-esque snickers for Sebastian. Alexandra was played by Missi Pyle in the live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie, while Sebastian does not appear in the live-action film.

Alexandra appears as a supporting regular character who dislikes Josie McCoy on The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Camille Hyde. This version of Alexandra is the senior vice president of Cabot Entertainment. Similar to in the comics, she dislikes Josie. In Katy Keene, Alexander and Alexandra are step-siblings (posing as twins in public), a relationship complicated by their having dated in high school before Alexander's father and Alexandra's mother later married. Hyde also reprised her role in the musical episode "Chapter Ninety-One: The Return of the Pussycats" from the fifth season of Riverdale.

Alan M. Mayberry
Alan M. Mayberry (known as "Alan M." in the comics, and as simply "Alan" in the cartoon series) is a tall, blond, muscular folk singer who serves as the Pussycats' roadie. He is also Josie's on-off boyfriend, but Alexandra is constantly trying to win a date with him.

In the comics, he replaced Josie's former boyfriend and Alex's former rival Albert. In his first comic book appearance, the creators tried to give him and Alex their own band, The Jesters, but it did not last beyond one issue, and the comic took a different direction. Though Alex looks down on Alan M. and insults his intelligence, Alan M. has more common sense than Alex does. Despite being one of the six main characters, he appeared less often in the comics in the 1980s onward.

In the cartoon series, he plays the role of the self-appointed group leader, similar to that of Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo (and perhaps not coincidentally does bear some resemblance to him as well). His and Alex's characters were changed in an attempt to recapture Scooby-Doos success.

Alan M.'s animated persona is voiced by Jerry Dexter. He was played by Gabriel Mann in the live-action film. In Riverdale, he appears as a guest character in the musical episode "Chapter Ninety-One: The Return of the Pussycats", portrayed by Chris McNally.

Other recurring characters
 Pepper Smith: Josie's best friend in the original comics, and, until the 1969 renovation, one of the main five characters (along with Josie, Melody, Albert and Alex). She had short-cropped black hair, conservative spectacles, wore clothes that were less formfitting than her friends, and was noted for her sharp wit and cynical nature. She dated Sock, but to his frustration, she preferred to remain emotionally reserved when it came to boys. The original comic focused on three girls (a redhead, a brunette and a blonde) who were frequently seen together, but Pepper was dropped from the comics and replaced by Valerie. This change has no explanation, as Albert and Pepper's roles are similar to their replacements’. Pepper made a small cameo appearance in Part 3 of 2007's “Civil Chore” in Tales from Riverdale (Alan M. was notably absent). Pepper later had a more prominent role in the 2016-17 Josie and the Pussycats comic series by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio. She appears as a lead character in The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Julia Chan.
 Albert: Sometimes seen as a mischievous goofball, but at other times quite sensitive, he was Josie's boyfriend in the original comics and one of the original male leads. He was also Alex's rival. However, while the Pussycats-era Alex was similar to Reggie Mantle, Albert and Alex were more like a male Betty and Veronica: good friends until it came to the girl they competed for. Alexandra tried unsuccessfully to get him to date her. Albert was fond of playing the guitar and singing, and also liked to ride his motor scooter. Often portrayed as member of the 1960s counterculture, he went from being a beatnik to a folk singer to a mod and finally to a hippie (depending on the year of the issue) before he was finally dropped from the comics. Alan M. would fill his old role. Since then, he, Pepper and a few other characters would only appear in stories reprinted in digests.
 Sock: His real name was Socrates, and he was a jock who dated Pepper and was a good friend of Albert's. Like a stereotypical jock, he was not very intelligent, but this was not exaggerated as it is with Moose Mason. Despite lasting up to and including Alan M.'s first story, he, like Alexandra, remained a supporting character. Unlike Albert and Pepper, he was removed from the comics with no actual replacement character.
 Alexander Cabot II: Alex and Alexandra's very rich father. He is slightly heavyset, his hair is turning white, and he is often frustrated with the ideas of his children. He insists that the band his son manages earn their own fame without the help of his millions. He appears as a guest character in The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Peter Francis James.
 Josie's father: He is a slim, middle-aged man who has dark hair with a wisp of gray. His name, depending on the source, is Mr. McCoy, Mr. Jones or Mr. James. He is totally supportive of his daughter's music career. In Riverdale, he is named Myles McCoy and he appears as a guest character, portrayed by Reese Alexander.
 Cricket O'Dell: The familiar Archie character made a few appearances in the original Josie comics. A pert, friendly girl with an amazing talent: she is able to smell money or monetary values. In Katy Keene, she appears as a recurring character and was portrayed by Azriel Crews. 
 Sheldon: A short, fat glutton from a few stories in the late 1960s who occasionally dated Melody. Despite his lack of importance, his final appearance was after the Pussycats' makeover.
 Clyde Didit: Best known as the star of Archie's Mad House, Clyde appeared for a few issues in Josie in the late 1960s.
 Mr. Tuttle: The principal of Midvale High School where Josie and her friends attend. He made a number appearances in the pre-Pussycats comics.
 Archie's Gang: The main characters often crossover with Josie and the Pussycats (and vice versa), sometimes in stories involving the Archies.
 The Vixens: A rival rock trio that Alexandra manages. Although they are glamorous, they have no musical talent (a fact that Alexandra somehow overlooked). Exclusive to the manga version.

In other media
Film
Live-action

Josie and the Pussycats is a 2001 Canadian-American musical comedy film released by Universal Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed and co-written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the film is loosely based upon the comic and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The film is about a young all-female band that signs a record contract with a major record label, only to discover that the company does not have the musicians' best interests at heart. The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson as the Pussycats, with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, and Gabriel Mann in supporting roles. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb, earning about $15 million against a $39 million budget.

Television
Animated

During the 1968-1969 television season, the first Archie-based Saturday morning cartoon, The Archie Show, debuted on CBS. The Archie Show, produced by Filmation Studios, was not only a hit on TV, but spun off a radio hit as well (the Archies' song "Sugar, Sugar" hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1969 and went on to be Billboards number one "Hot 100 Single" of that year). Competing animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions contacted Archie Comics about possibly adapting another of its properties into a similar show. Archie Comics offering to redevelop the Josie series into one about a teenage music band, and allowing Hanna-Barbera to adapt it into a music-based Saturday morning show. The show aired 16 episodes during the 1970-71 television season. In the 1972-73 television season, the show was re-conceptualized as Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space and aired another 16 episodes. After the show's cancellation, Josie and the Pussycats made a final appearance in a guest shot on the September 22, 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat".

Live-action

Josie and the Pussycats appear in Riverdale on The CW. They are high school students who are dedicated to perfecting the "Pussycat" brand. Ashleigh Murray portrays Josephine "Josie" McCoy, named for Josephine Baker, whose father is a jazz musician and wishes his daughter played more serious music. Her mother is Riverdale's mayor. Asha Bromfield and Hayley Law portray Melody Valentine and Valerie Brown, respectively. All three of them are African-Americans.

Josie would later emigrate to the spin-off series Katy Keene as an adult, with Murray reprising her role. In this, Josie finds two new Pussycats, Cricket O'dell and Trula Twyst portrayed by Azriel Patricia and Emily Rafala.

References

External links
Archie Comics' Josie and the Pussycats homepage
Josie and the Pussycats at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 22, 2016.

Josie and the Pussycats
Comics characters introduced in 1963
Characters created by Dan DeCarlo
1963 comics debuts
1982 comics endings
2016 comics debuts
2017 comics endings
Archie Comics titles
Archie Comics characters
Comics about women
American comics adapted into films
Comics adapted into animated series
Female characters in comics
Fictional female musicians
Music-themed comics
Nineteen Minutes (2007) is the fourteenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult. It was Picoult's first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. This novel follows the unfolding of a school shooting, including the events leading up to the incident and the aftermath of the incident.

Plot
The story begins on March 6, 2007 in the small town of Sterling, New Hampshire, tracking the lives of a number of characters on an "ordinary day." The characters include Alex Cormier, a superior court judge; her daughter Josie, a junior in high school; Lacy, Lewis, and Peter Houghton; Detective Patrick Ducharme; and several victims-to-be.

At the local high school, Sterling High, the story follows a routine day of students in classes, at the gym, and in the cafeteria. Suddenly, a loud bang is heard from the parking lot, which turns out to be a bomb set off in Matt Royston's car. As the students are distracted by the noise, gunshots are fired. When Patrick, the only detective on the Sterling police force, arrives at Sterling High, he searches the school to seek out the gunman, who is alleged to be a student. After passing several dead and wounded victims, Patrick traps and arrests the shooter, Peter Houghton, in the locker room, where he finds two students, Josie Cormier and Matt Royston, lying on the floor surrounded in blood. While Matt is dead, having been the only victim shot twice, Josie is not seriously injured, but only shocked: she cannot remember what happened.

The shooting kills ten people (nine students and one teacher) and wounds many other people.

Throughout the book, time flashes back and forth between events before and after the shooting. In the past, the reader learns that Peter and Josie were once close friends. Peter was frequently the target of severe bullying at school, and Josie often stuck up for him. The friends slowly drifted apart as they got older: Josie joined the popular crowd in order to protect her own interests, seeing her relationship to Peter as embarrassing. The story pictures Peter as an outcast at home as well; Peter believes his older brother Joey is favored by their parents. Joey is a popular straight-A student and athlete, but feels it necessary to ridicule Peter to protect his reputation, even fabricating a story that Peter was adopted. When Joey is killed in a car accident in 2006, Lacy and Lewis Houghton are too upset to pay attention to their remaining son, causing a bigger rift between Peter and his parents.

In their sophomore year, Josie begins dating Matt, a popular jock who leads his friends Drew Girard and John Eberhard in bullying Peter. Matt often calls Peter "homo" and "fag," leading Peter to question his sexual orientation. The bullying intensifies once Matt begins dating Josie, in his possessive efforts to keep her away from other boys. On one occasion, Peter approaches Josie after school to try talking to her. Matt beats him up, leaving Peter humiliated in front of the school.

The flashbacks also reveal several subplots: the difficult relationship between Josie and her single mother Alex, Alex's dilemma of being a judge and a mother, Peter's escape from bullying into the world of video games, Josie's fear of falling out of the popular crowd and her suicide back-up plan when she does, Matt's abusive behavior toward Josie, Josie's pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, as well as Lewis Houghton's hunting lessons with his son Peter.

One month before the shooting, Peter realizes that he has feelings for Josie, and sends her an email expressing his love. Courtney Ignatio reads this email before Josie and has Drew forward it to the entire school. Courtney then convinces Peter that Josie likes him. Peter asks Josie to join him later during lunch, only to suffer public humiliation as Matt pulls down Peter's pants and exposes his genitals to a cafeteria full of students. Peter's psychotic break is triggered on the morning of the shooting when he turns on his computer and accidentally opens the email he wrote to Josie.

After the shooting, Peter is sent to jail while the trial proceeds. The probable cause hearing is waived as Peter admits to killing ten people and wounding nineteen others. Jordan, Peter's defense attorney, uses battered person syndrome caused by severe bullying and abuse as a basis to convince the jury that Peter’s actions were justified as a result of his suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Jordan argues that he was in a dissociative state at the time of the shooting. In the final stage of the trial, Josie reveals that she was the one who shot Matt the first time in the stomach after grabbing a gun that fell out of Peter's bag. She admits later that she did this on account of the abusive behavior that she had endured while in a relationship with him. Peter later fired the fatal second shot; a blow to the head. Peter promised her he wouldn't tell anyone what she had done, and he kept this promise, happy to have Josie as his friend again.

Peter is convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison. A month afterward, Peter commits suicide by stuffing a sock into his throat.

At the end of the book, one year from the date of the massacre, Josie has received a five-year sentence  for accessory  of manslaughter  and is regularly visited in jail by her mother. Throughout the book, Josie never told the whole story, instead repeating, "I can't remember." When Josie admits to shooting Matt, Peter's sentence is reduced. Alex and Patrick, who are expecting their first child, walk the halls of the high school. Sterling High has been extensively remodeled after the shooting. The cafeteria, the gym and locker room where the massacre took place have been replaced by a large glass atrium with a memorial to the dead in the center, a row of ten white chairs bolted to the floor. A plaque declares the building "A Safe Harbor."

Characters
Peter Houghton: The protagonist. An odd kid, who has been mercilessly bullied for most of his life. He has an avid interest in computers and video games. Peter wears glasses, making him a frequent target of teasing. Peter maintained a friendship with Josie Cormier until middle school, when she distanced herself from him and instead chose to befriend the popular students. After his friendship with Josie deteriorates, Peter befriends Derek, often co-creating video games with him. Peter's home life is rocky; he never seemed to relate to his parents, despite his mother's best efforts. His older brother, Joey, teased Peter and often encouraged bullying, even fabricating that Peter was adopted. During his high school years, Peter realizes he is in love with Josie, sparking a drastic chain of events. Peter emails Josie a love letter, which is  intercepted by some of Josie's popular friends. This event is the catalyst in Peter's actions. After a lengthy trial and eventual conviction for murdering and severely injuring his classmates, Peter dies by suicide in prison by stuffing a sock down his throat.
Josie Cormier: Once Peter's loyal, sweet best friend, their relationship fractures in middle school when Josie becomes part of the popular clique. Over the years, Josie has great difficulty maintaining her image, torn between what she is expected to be and how she wants to be. Josie realizes the shallowness of her clique and even acknowledges it on occasion, but she is too afraid to leave them, fearing social obscurity and alienation. Josie deeply dislikes her friends’ and boyfriend's treatment of less popular students, but is never able to stand up to them. Josie's home life isn't perfect; she has a strained relationship with her mother and never knew her father. She clings to Matt for emotional support and comfort. However, Matt is physically abusive towards her and she never leaves him. In a final twist in the novel, it is revealed that Josie shot Matt in the stomach the day of Peter's rampage. Josie is sentenced to five years in prison. 
Alex Cormier: Josie's mother. Throughout the novel, flashbacks reveal that she had trouble connecting with her daughter. Alex is also the judge assigned to Peter's trial, until Josie is called as a witness. 
Patrick Ducharme: A detective on the Sterling Police Force and Alex's love interest. He is a recurring character, appearing previously in Perfect Match. Patrick is the chief detective on the Sterling High School shooting case. At the end of the novel, he and Alex are romantically involved and expecting their first child. 
Lacy Houghton: Peter's mother. She is a midwife, and struggles to understand her son's actions. When she discovers Joey, Peter's older brother, was a heroin addict, she disposes of the evidence, as she cannot bring herself to accept her deceased son was anything other than perfect.
Lewis Houghton: Peter's father. A happiness economist and college lecturer. He owns many guns, which are stored in the house, and used frequently for hunting. Lewis tried to introduce Peter to hunting, and often took him on trips, but Peter was uninterested. When Peter was in jail, awaiting trial, Lewis doesn't visit him, instead, he went to the grave of the victims of the shooting. It is revealed that Lewis favoured Joey, Peter's older brother, over Peter, but he only acknowledges this truth near the end of the novel. 
Matt Royston: Josie's boyfriend. Matt is the most popular boy in at Sterling High and is an aggressive hockey player. Matt and his best friend, Drew, often bullied Peter, beginning in kindergarten. The bullying includes shoving, elbowing, hitting, pulling Peter's pants down, taunting and name-calling. Matt is abusive towards Josie, on one occasion, causing her to break her leg, and manipulating her into having sex. Matt is the final victim in the school shooting, and the only victim to be shot twice.
Jordan McAfee: Peter's defense attorney. He is a recurring character, appearing in The Pact and Salem Falls. He has a baby son, as well as an older son, Thomas McAfee (who appears in The Pact and Salem Falls) and is married to Selena McAfee. He represents Peter at trial because he believes that he deserves a fair trial. 
Selena McAfee: Jordan's wife who assists with her husband's case and one of the few people who is sympathetic towards Peter. Selena is a recurring character, appearing along with Jordan, and Jordan's son from his first marriage, Thomas McAfee. 
Drew Girard: A popular student, and Matt's best friend. He, along with Matt, would repeatedly bully Peter. Drew was shot in the shoulder while he was running away from the gunfire with Matt and Josie.
John Eberhard: A popular student who was sustained a head wound during the shooting. He is left with severe brain damage, and is now mentally handicapped. 
Brady Pryce: A popular student who dated Haley Weaver. He and Haley were considered "The Brangelina of Sterling High". He was injured protecting Haley during the shooting.
Haley Weaver: The girlfriend of Brady Pryce a Sterling High senior. She and Brady were considered "The Brangelina of Sterling High". Prior to the shooting, she was elected Homecoming Queen. She was badly disfigured in the shooting, needing a multitude of plastic surgery operations to her face. 
Derek Markowitz: Peter's only friend after Josie becomes friends with the designated "popular crowd". He and Peter met when their mothers forced them to play soccer together. The teens have been friends since. Derek enjoys making computer games, several of which were co-created with Peter.
Ed McCabe: A closeted gay math teacher who dies during the shooting. He offered support to Peter, who was confused about his sexuality in a flashback in the novel.
Courtney Ignatio: A popular girl who is friends with Josie, after she and Peter have a falling-out. Courtney dies after being shot in the chest during the shooting. She relentlessly bullied Peter; convincing him that Josie had feelings for him and then publicly humiliating him.
Joey Houghton: Peter's dead brother. Joey was seen as the "all American son", good grades, great athlete, etc. However, this is contradicted by his actions later in the story (such as when he bullied Peter or when he used heroin.) Joey was killed by an impaired driver. 
Logan Rourke: Josie's biological father. Married, and not interested in Josie's life. He tried to bribe Josie with money to leave him alone.

Victims
In order of death:
Maddie Shaw: Josie's friend and a popular student. She is the first to die.
Courtney Ignatio: Josie's friend and a popular student. It is revealed that Courtney and Matt Royston were the catalysts that caused the shooting.
Whit Obermeyer: A student shot in the hallway.
Topher McPhee: The school's well-known marijuana dealer.
Grace Murtaugh: The daughter of the town's minister.
Kaitlyn Harvey: A freshman student with Down syndrome.
Edward McCabe: The only teacher killed and Peter's former math teacher.
Noah James: A senior student and a jock.
Justin Friedman: Notably, fluent in Elvish and unathletic, Jewish.
Matt Royston: A popular jock, Josie's boyfriend. It is revealed that he was shot once in the stomach by Josie and once in the head by Peter.

Reception
The book received generally favorable reviews by critics, for the writing, character development, plot twists, and the moral issues raised, including peer pressure, popularity, self-image, school bullying, betrayal and deception, sexual orientation doubt, teen dating violence, suicide, video game violence, single parenthood and communication barriers between adolescents and adults.

The Associated Press acknowledged that although Peter's guilt cannot be in doubt from a legal perspective, it is hard for readers to know where to put the blame as the story unfolds. Rocky Mountain News agreed, stating that while the beginning shooting scene makes it "painfully clear who the victims and killer are. As the novel unfolds, Picoult succeeds in lifting those assumptions up for scrutiny, until villains and victims seem to blend into a motley jumble of alliances and rejection."

The Free Lance-Star mentioned that Nineteen Minutes created a two-sided story that helps readers understand everything about the school shooting, which is more than what normal media coverage will provide about this type of tragedy. The New York Times praised Picoult's writing, commenting that she "writes articulately and clearly, making her all too much of a rarity among popular authors." The Washington Post called the book not only a thriller that is "complete with dismaying carnage, urgent discoveries and 11th-hour revelations", but also a source of serious moral questions about relationships between children and adults, and among children themselves. The Boston Globe considered Nineteen Minutes "an insightful deconstruction of youthful alienation, of the shattering repercussions of bullying, and the disturbing effects of benign neglect."

An ambiguous point in the story is the identity of the author of the handwritten journal entries at the start of the book chapters, with New York Times saying this writer may or may not be Peter, although "it doesn't sound like him", and Hippo Press analyzing that whether or not the writer is identified "doesn’t matter"; the author maybe either Josie or Peter, and the point is that the diary pieces "provide insight into the workings of the teenage mind", showing that they are "not all that different." Peter, the shooter, is also noted by USA Today as a lonely bullied student more similar to the offender in Heath High School shooting in Paducah, Kentucky than the offenders in Columbine High School massacre (Both shooting incidents are mentioned in the story and used by Picoult as materials for research).

Autobiographical elements 
Jodi Picoult says her "children struggled with fitting in and being bullied" which made them "guinea pigs" for her characters in the novel. Picoult understood that the topic of bullying was universal because everyone has experienced bullying in some form.

References

External links 
 
 Official Nineteen Minutes entry on MySpace

2007 American novels
Novels by Jodi Picoult
American crime novels
Novels set in New Hampshire
Novels about revenge
Novels about bullying
Novels about mass murder
Atria Publishing Group books Klara and the Sun is the eighth novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published on 2 March 2021. It is a dystopian science fiction story.

Set in the U.S. in an unspecified future, the book is told from the point of view of Klara, a solar-powered AF (Artificial Friend), who is chosen by Josie, a sickly child, to be her companion. 

The novel was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.

Plot 
The novel is set in a dystopian future in which some children are genetically engineered ("lifted") for enhanced academic ability. As schooling is provided entirely at home by on-screen tutors, opportunities for socialization are limited and parents who can afford it often buy their children androids as companions. The book is narrated by one such Artificial Friend (AF) called Klara. Although Klara is exceptionally intelligent and observant, her knowledge of the world is limited.

From the window of the store in which she is for sale, Klara learns about the world outside and watches the sun, which she always refers to as "he" and treats as a living entity. As a solar-powered AF, the sun's nourishment is of great importance to her. On one occasion she notices that a beggar and his dog are not in their usual position; they are lying like discarded bags and do not move all day. It seems obvious to Klara that they have died, and she is surprised the next morning to see that they are living and that the sun has with his great kindness saved them with a special kind of nourishment.

Klara comes to fear and hate what she calls the "Cootings Machine" (from the name printed on its side) which stands for several days in the street outside, spewing out pollution that entirely blocks the sun's rays.

Klara is chosen by 14-year-old Josie, who lives with her mother in a remote region of a prairie. Soon after joining them, Klara learns that the lifting process carries some risk: Josie's older sister Sal had earlier died, and Josie herself is gravely ill.

Josie's only near neighbour and childhood friend is Rick, a boy of about her own age. Although academically able, Rick has not been lifted and faces discrimination and reduced career prospects. In spite of this, Josie and Rick have always known that they will be together forever.

From Josie's bedroom Klara has a good view of the sun's progress across the sky, and comes to believe that he goes to his nightly rest within a farmer's barn that stands on the horizon. With Rick's help, she makes her way there one evening across the grasslands. Although surprised to find the sun's resting place is not actually in the barn, she pleads with him to pour his special kind of nourishment onto Josie and to save her life, as he did the beggar. She offers in return to find and destroy the pollution-creating Cootings Machine.

Josie's mother unexpectedly asks Klara to imitate Josie, which due to her exceptional powers of observation she can do almost perfectly. The mother regularly takes Josie to sit for her portrait, although unknown to her daughter the artist is making not a painting but a highly-accurate AF body. She intends that Klara will integrate her intelligence into it if Josie dies, becoming not simply a facsimile but Josie's true continuation.

When Klara next accompanies Josie into town, she finds and destroys a Cootings Machine, sacrificing in the process some of the P-E-G Nine solution she carries in her head and accepting that the loss may result in a reduction in her abilities. But Josie's condition worsens and the sun does not respond. Klara returns to the barn to make another plea, reminding the sun of Josie and Rick's genuine and everlasting love. Several days later as Josie seems near death Klara suddenly sees the dark clouds part, and the sun sends his special nourishment flooding into her sick room. Josie seems better immediately, and over the following months recovers her health.

As Josie grows older she starts to drift away from Rick. Klara worries that she has misled the sun and Rick comforts her, explaining that although his and Josie's paths in life may differ, their love really was genuine and they will always, at some level, be together. Josie leaves for college, and says goodbye to Klara.

The novel closes with Klara settled in a yard for scrapped AFs. She is no longer able to move around, but says she is content with her spot in the yard and declines to socialise with other AFs. The manager of her old store visits, and Klara tells her of happy memories and of the sun's great kindness towards Josie.

Publication 
Klara and the Sun was published on 2 March 2021 by Faber and Faber (UK) and Alfred A. Knopf (US).

The novel debuted at number six on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending 6 March 2021.

Reception 
Klara and the Sun received favourable reviews, with a cumulative "Positive" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks.

In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews compared the novel to Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and called it a "haunting fable of a lonely, moribund world that is entirely too plausible."

Publishers Weekly praised the "rich inner reflections" of Ishiguro's protagonist, writing, "Klara's quiet but astute observations of human nature land with profound gravity." Publishers Weekly proclaims, "This dazzling genre-bending work is a delight."

In her review for The New York Times, Radhika Jones notes that Klara and the Sun returns to the theme of The Remains of the Day as "Ishiguro gives voice to: not the human, but the clone; not the lord, but the servant. Klara and the Sun complements his brilliant vision, though it doesn't reach the artistic heights of his past achievements. . .when Klara says, "I have my memories to go through and place in the right order," it strikes the quintessential Ishiguro chord."

In a positive review, Cherwell described Ishiguro's novel as characterised by "elegance and poise", praising the narrator Klara as "a memorable first-person narrative voice, simultaneously robotic and infantile, scrupulous yet naïve." The novel's central image of the "paganistic worship of the sun, nearly to the level of deification, by a purely mechanical vessel" is particularly celebrated. Yet, the book's inclusion of gene editing is criticised as "overly vague".

The Economist praised the book and mentioned that it affects "a cross between Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, with Klara in the place of Stevens, the butler whose first-person narration provided a between-the-lines portrait of morality among the English upper crust in the interwar years."

Anne Enright, writing in The Guardian, found parallels with a different work by the author: "The themes of replication and authenticity are similar to those in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, published in 2005. Both novels are set in a speculative future that feels quite like the present. Both also contain a secret moral shift: an advance in technology that has changed people's sense of what it is to be human, and the emotional punch of Klara, as with Never Let Me Go, comes from the fact that the central character doesn't know what is going on." Enright added, "The novel requires the reader to ask and settle, over and again, while the philosophical content quietly takes hold. Klara and the Sun is a book about what it is to be human. The fact that Ishiguro can make such huge concerns seem so essential and so simple is just one of the reasons he was awarded the Nobel prize. [...] People will absolutely love this book, in part because it enacts the way we learn how to love. Klara and the Sun is wise like a child who decides, just for a little while, to love their doll. 'What can children know about genuine love?' Klara asks. The answer, of course, is everything."

The novel was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize and the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It was selected for The Washington Posts "10 Best Books of 2021" list.

Adaptations 
The novel was read on BBC Radio 4 by actress Lydia Wilson, abridged by Richard Hamilton. It was broadcast in ten parts between 7 March and 19 March 2021.

Screen 
In July 2020, Sony's 3000 Pictures acquired the screen rights for Klara and the Sun. Dahvi Waller is set to adapt the novel.

References 

2021 British novels
2021 science fiction novels
British science fiction novels
Dystopian novels
Faber and Faber books
Novels by Kazuo Ishiguro
Novels about androids
Novels set in the future
First-person narrative novels